Heat regenerator



Oct. 27, 1942. w. J. lRWlN HEAT REGENERATOR Filed Jan. 4, 1941 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 I- IEL 7.

[me dan- J !em patente& Oct. 27, 1942 UNiTED STATES PATENT OFFICE v 2,3o0,2s9 I HEAT REGENERATOR p William J. Irwin, wikinsbur Pa.

Application January 4, 1941, Serial No. 373,179

(c. ass-49) i 8 Claims. This invention relates to heat regenerators such as the type used with open hearth furnaces,

the object being to improve their Operating efficiency.

A specific example of open hearth regenerators embodying the principles of the invention is illustrated by the accompanying drawings, in

which: r

Figure 1 is a horizontal section;

Figure 2 is a longitudinal, Vertical section taken from the line II-II of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a longitudinal, vertical section of the furnace end using the regenerators, taken from theline III- III in Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a transverse, vertical section of Figure l;

Figure 5 is an enlargement taken from Figure 2; J v

Figure 6 is a Vertical, transverse section taken from the line VI-VI in Figure 5;

Figure 7 is a modified enlargement taken from Figure 2; and

Figures 8 and 9 are top and side views, resp'ectively, of a detail.

The pair of regenerators at but one end of the furnace is shown since this is ample to disclose the invention, the pair at the opposite end being the same in most instances.

More specifically, these drawings show the end of the furnace hearth l from which the hot gases exhaust when the opposite end is on heat, the gases exhausting by way of the ports 2, downtakes 3 and slag pockets 4 through the fantails 5 to the top of the brick regenerator chambers 6. The gases then flow downwardly through the chimneys 'l of the brickwork regenerators 8 to the bottoms of the regenerator chambers from which they exist by way of flues 9 to the stack. It is unnecessary to describe the reversing valves and their fiue system.

The description at thisstage may be taken as that of the conventional arrangement. The regenerators 8 are of the chimney type and their tops are conventionally flat, the regenerator chamber roofs being necessarily arched since this is the only practical way to construct them. It will be noted that one regenerator is larger and that its fantail necessarily angles more sharply from the slag pocket, the two regenerators being parallel. This larger regenerator is the air regenerator, the smaller one being the gas regenerator. Due to its size and its offset position, it is particularly difficult to obtain an even fiow of the hot gases down through the air regenerator.

As illustrative of the present invention, the top of the air regenerator is not fiat but is built up to provide a series of steps n which advance upwardly away from the furnace, these steps being constructed the full width of the regenerator and constituting continuations of its various chimneys. These steps are made of brickwork and for this reason are described as steps," but it is possible to use special bricks lil for the purpose of making the top of the regenerator have a slope approaching an unbroken inclination. In all cases the regenerator top must have an appreciable upward slope away from the fur nace This slope must continue throughout a major portion of the regenerator until the top step or level is at least about even with the roof springers, as contrasted to comprising one or two steps immediately at the furnace end of the regenerator top without the ,use of other steps to continue the slope.

'With the above arrangement, the space between the roof of the ,regenerator chamber 6 and the` top of the regenerator 8 is made to decrease toward the end of the regenerator remote from the furnace. At the same time, the regenerator chimneys through which the waste gases must travel are made to increase in length toward this remote end of the regenerator. The efiect is enhanced by heaping brickwork adjacent the remote end of the regenerator and on top of the uppermost one of the steps o to cause the top of this step ,to gradually conform more closely to thenecessarilyarched roof of the regenerator 6. As shown by the drawings, the heaping is affected byproviding steps ll which not only constitute ascending stepsgoing upwardly from the last of the steps u but also steps which gradually decrease in length until they almost reach the top of the regenerator 6 at the point most remote from the furnace. These steps also constitute continuations of the regenerator chimneys. Also, the contour may be smoothed by special brick to provide substantially unbroken inclinations, if desired. These special bricks are marked [t in Figure 7. They are placed end to end across the regenerator so as to form cross bars {on the steps of the regenerator. The length of each bar corresponds to the length of the next higher step across the regenerator.

The steps 10 and l l should be designed to cause the area of the space between the regenerator top and the regenerator chamber roof to gradually decrease toward the end most remote from the furnace at sucha rate that the velocities of the waste gases travelng 'through the various I'h generator chimneys are uniform throughout the regenerator. Due to constructional difficulties and, mainly, to the necessity for accommodating dust Collections, it is impossible to make the spacing at the most remote end as small as is necessary to prevent the gases fiowing through the most remote chimneys from having a slightly higher velocity, but it is to be noted that the construction described considerably lengthens the chimneys where these higher velocities occur, this providing a greater area to abstract heat from the faster moving gases whereby the gases exiting from all the various chimneys have approximately the same temperatures. This shows that heat has been taken from the gases in each of the chimneys With approximately the same degree of eficiency.

As so far described, the invention may be applied to either air or fuel regenerators so as to greatly improve their Operating eficiency, although it has been described mainly in connection with the air regenerator.

Aspreviously mentioned, the air regenerator is offset through necessity to such a degree that its fantail is at quite an angle with its chamber. According to the present invention, the normally uneven distribution of gases through this air regenerator due to this angle is made more even by building a deflector l2 on the side of the air fantail forming an acute angle with the air regenerator, this defiector being built in the lower corner of this fantail and providing a surface angling toward the side of the regenerator chamber opposite that toward which the waste gases are normally directed by the angular air fantail.

This deflector causes a more even gas flow into the air regenerator chamber top.

It has previously been indicated that the reduction in the area of the space over the regenerator top towards its end most remote from the furnace, is limited by certain practical conditions, one of these being the necessity for allowing room for dust accumulations which might otherwise plug the chimneys at that end. Furthermore, a regenerator embodying the features of the present invention may be subject to trouble from dust accumulations, since the invention provides chimneys which progressively increase in length as compared with the length they would have in the case of the -conventional fiat-topped regenerator.

With the above in mind, the end wall that is most remote from the furnace of the regenerator chamber of any regenerator embodying the previously described sloping regenerator top, may be provided with a horizontal series of passages !3, and each of the various chimneys of the regenerator 8 provided with transverse passages !4 which cooperatively register with the passages !3. This end of the regenerator chamber may also be provided with passages |5 providing access to the end of the space over the regenerator top at locations most remote from the furnace and where, as previously described, the space is at a minimum.

The various passages described above provide for the use of compressed air as a means for blowing dust from both the various chimneys and the regenerator top. For this purpose a tool may be used consisting of a pipe 16 having a right-angular end lG and provided with guides ll for preventing the bent end !6 from getting caught within the regenerator and for guiding the tool through the various passages. Assuming dust has accumulated, this tool can be thrust successively through the various passages l`3'and-as its end registers with the various chimneys it may be turned so as to blow both upwardly and downwardly, it being understood that the tool is provided with air or steam under high pressure. In this way the various chimneys can be cleared of any dust accumulations, it being possible to use a curved piece of pipe through the passages l5 and to supply this curved pipe with air or steam under pressure so as to clear the regenerator top of both accumulated dust and dust which might be thrown upwardly from the various chimneys by the use of the described tool.

In this manner the features of the present invention which contribute to an even waste gas flow through the regenerators, are made more practical, it being possible to reduce the area over the regenerator top more nearly in accord with what 'is necessary to even the flowthrough the regenerator, the dust accumulation accommodation being of relatively little importance in view of the ease with which the dust may be removed.

It is to be appreciated that the steps o and ll and the deflector l2 may be provided existing furnaces and that the formation of the various passages necessary to provide for the removal of dust accumulations may also be provided without necessitating special constructions. In no case need these passages be made so large as to prevent a regenerator functioning as the chimney type. In the claims, the width of a step is in the lengthwise direction of the regenerator.

steps of variable width are shown in Figure 2 for the purpose of giving uniform decrease in the transverse sectional .area of the passage 6 above the regenerator, throughout its length. By using this method the downward velocity of the waste gases changes uniformly throughout the length of the regenerator.

I claim:

1. A heat regenerator having a channel that extends longitudinally over its top and open thereto so as to distribute waste gas flow down through the same, the top of the said channel being arched over its regenerator so as to rise and fall transversely of the said channel, the top of the said regenerator having an appreciable upward slope in the direction away from its end where the waste gases enter, the transverse sectonal area of the said channel decreasing and the regenerator depth increasing in the same direction, the said regenerator top being heaped transversely of the said channel so that the 'heaping extends up into the arching of the chan nel in the said direction.

2. A heat regenerator having a channel that extends longitudinally over its top and open thereto so as to distribute waste gas flow down through the same, the top of the said channel being arched over its regenerator so as to rise and fall transversely of the said channel, the top of the said regenerator having an appreciable upward slope in the direction away from its end where the waste gases enter, the transverse sectional area of the said channel decreasing and the regenerator depth increasing in the same direction, the said regenerator top being heaped transversely of the said channel so that the heaping extends up into the arching of the channel in the said direction, the said slope having a plurality of steps that extend up into the arching of the said channel.

3. A heat regenerator having a channel that extends longitudinally over its top and open thereto so as Ito distribute waste gas flow down through the same, the top of the said channel being arched over its regenerator so as to rise and fall transversely of the said channel, the top of the said regenerator having an appreciable upward slope in the direction away from its end where the waste gases enter, the transverse sectional area of the said channel decreasing and the regenerator depth increasing ini the same direction, the said regenerator top being heaped transversely of the said channel so that the heaping extends up into the arching of the channel in the said direction, the said slope having a plurality of steps and cross bars on at least some of the said steps.

4. A heat regenerator having a channel that extends longitudinally over its top and open thereto so as to distribute waste gas flow down through the same, the top of the said channel being arched over its regenerator so as to rise and fall transversely of the said channel, the top of the said regenerator having an appreciable upward slope in the direction away from its end where the waste gases enter, the transverse sectional area of the said channel decreasing and the regenerator depth increasing in the same direction, the said regenerator top being heaped transversely of the said channel so that the heaping extends up into the arching of the channel in the said direction, the said slope having a plurality of steps of variable width.

5. A heat regenerator having a channel that extends longitudinally over its top and open thereto so as to distribute waste gas flow down through the same, the top of the said channel being arched over its regenerator so as to rise and fall transversely of the said channel, the top of the said regenerator having an appreciable upward slope in the direction away from its end where the waste gases enter, the transverse sectional area of the said channel decreasing and the regenerator depth increasing in the same direction, the said regenerator top being heaped transversely of the said channel so that the heaping extends up into the arching of the channel in the said direction, the said slope having a plurality of steps of variable width, and cross bars on at least some of the said steps.

6. A heat regenerator having a channel that extends longitudinally over its top and open thereto so as to distribute waste gas flow down through the same, the top of the said regenerator having an appreciable upward slope in the direction away from its end where the waste gases enter, the transverse sectional area of the said channel decreasing and the regenerator depth increasing in the same direction, the said slope having a plurality of steps and cross bars on at least some of the said steps, and the said regenerator having a passage for the incoming waste gases set an angle to it in the plan view, a sidewise defiector on the side of the said passage that forms an acute angle with the adjoining side of the regenerator in the plan View and lies at the bottom of the said passage.

7. A chimney type regenerator having horizontal dust blowing passages within itself, each of the said passages penetrating a row of chimneys on their sides in the regenerator and having an entrance through the wall of the regenerator chamber, and the transverse sectional area of the channel above the said regenerator decreasing in the direction away from its end where the waste gases enter.

8. A heat regenerator of the chimney type having a channel that extends longitudinally over its top and open thereto so as to distribute waste gas flow down through the same, the top of the' said channel being arched over its regenerator so as to rise and fall transversely of the said channel, the top of the said regenerator having an appraciable upward slope in the direction away from its end where the waste gases enter, the transverse sectional area of the said channel decreasing and the regenerator depth increasing in the same direction, the said regenerator top being heaped transversely of the said channel so that the heaping extends up into the arching of the channel in the said direction, the said chimney type regenerator having horizontal dust blowing passages within itself, each of the said passages penetrating a row of chimneys on their sides in the regenerator and having an entrance through the wall of the regenerator chamber.

WILLIAM J. IRWIN. 

